Golf is a difficult and challenging sport. Much repetition and practice is required to master the proper club swings used when playing. Much of the difficulty arises because the desired golf swings are complicated motions involving simultaneous motion of many parts of the golfer's body. However, this complicated motion can be broken into simpler component elements. If the developing golfer were able to isolate and work to improve these individual component motions, mastery of the required technique could be considerably enhanced.
The invention provides an improved system comprising five elements for assisting a golfer in developing a proper golf swing. More particularly, the invention provides elements, used individually or in combination, which signal the golfer when individual component motions of his swing deviate from those of an ideal swing.
Studies of the swings of practiced golfers have indicated that in an ideal swing the golfer's hands travel in an approximately circular path centered about a point near the top of the golfer's sternum, i.e., near the center of the golfer's collarbone. Mechanical systems have been designed in an attempt to teach this ideal swing to developing golfers. Such systems have commonly included a golf club or club handle rigidly attached to a mechanism that confines motion of the club to the desired path. Systems of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,737,432, 3,415,523, and 3,319,963.
It was thought that by repeatedly swinging the club handle through the prescribed path, the golfer would eventually train his muscles to follow the desired path. Unfortunately, these machines were generally unsuccessful. Most golfers found themselves unable to achieve the desired motion when not attached to the machine.
Devices of this type suffer from at least two deficiencies. First, the club or practice club is rigidly attached to the mechanism, which is itself rigid. This is a consequence of the theory behind such devices, that a golfer can pattern his swing by following a rigidly constrained ideal swing. Unfortunately, in most cases the rigid constraint of the mechanism acts as a "crutch," and the golfer is unable to repeat the desired swing when freed of the practice mechanism.
Secondly, the swing mechanisms are invariably rather heavy. The mass and rotational inertia of the mechanism alone about the swing center are typically at least as much as those of an unrestrained club. The inertial resistance of the mechanism completely obscures the response of the club so that the golfer has no opportunity to develop his own sense of what a proper swing feels like.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a golf swing training system that would assist a golfer in developing the desired swing. A desirable swing training system will indicate deviations from the proper swing path without rigidly constraining the club so that the golfer can repeat the desired swing when freed from the device. It would be further desirable if a golf swing trainer could be developed in which the rotational inertia of the rotating parts is substantially less than that of a swung club, so that the inertial resistance of the device does not obscure the golfer's feel of the club.